German politicians from all sides of the political spectrum are up in arms over comments by the CEO of industrial gas company Linde AG that Germany should consider exiting the euro.

Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle told the latest edition of Spiegel magazine that the impetus for crisis-hit countries in the euro zone to implement reforms will abate if the European Central Bank intervenes, and “if disciplining crisis countries isn’t manageable, Germany has to leave.”

Mr. Reitzle is the first head of a DAX-30 company to address a potential collapse of the euro in such explicit terms. His comments break ranks from the majority of top executives, who have repeatedly said there is no alternative to the euro, and its collapse would be a severe blow for German exporters.

Politicians from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, the Greens, and the pro-business Free Democrats slammed Mr. Reitzle’s comments, and were quick to point out that euro zone policy isn’t his mandate.